The final transfer portal rankings are out for Rivals, and the Illinois football team has cracked the top 60.
As we continue to head into a world that is mostly dominated by the transfer portal, the Illini seem to be adjusting just fine.
So far through three recruiting classes, Bret Bielema has found a nice balance of freshmen coming into the program and players who have experience and can help from day one through the transfer portal. When you get too heavy one way or the other, that is when you start to struggle.
In the final Rivals transfer portal rankings for the class of 2024, they have Illinois checking in at No. 58 in the country. We have 11 transfer portal commitments.
Most of the transfer portal talent has come in the trenches. Bielema focused on bolstering the front lines, so seven out of the 11 transfers are on the offensive and defensive lines.
While the Illinois football team didn’t crack the top 50 in the class of 2024 transfer portal rankings, we did bring in quality talent
The haul the Illini are bringing in from the transfer portal this season is quite impressive. Not only were we able to fill some major holes, but the talent that is entering the program is solid.
Illinois secured three four-star transfer portal commitments. Only 28 teams in college football were able to secure at least three four-star transfer portal recruits.
Rivals has Illinois’ average star rating at 3.18. Only 13 teams have a better star rating than the Illini in the Rivals transfer portal rankings.
On top of that, only four Big Ten teams are ahead of Illinois when it comes to average star rating for the 2024 transfer portal class. Ohio State has a rating of 3.86 and Oregon has a rating of 3.75, which ranks No. 1 and No. 2 in the country, respectively. You then have Michigan at No. 9 and Washington at No. 12.
Illinois played the transfer portal game well this offseason. We added some key pieces that will help the program in 2024. We finally get to see these pieces in action here in a few weeks.